Ok, this is definitely off-topic, but I'm curious what you guys think. I am a pretty big fan of the RPG genre, and I've played the hell out of them since the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior on the NES (both of which I still play in cartridge form from time to time). Fortunately, I never realized back then that those 8-bit sprites actually represented genderless emo-orphans wearing flamboyant renaissance masquerade costumes who are constantly plagued by visions and/or dreams of a vague and uninteresting past. This slowly became more evident as the presentation improved, until even Cloud and Sephiroth were revealed to be a bunch of leather-wearing nancy-boys who couldn't even sprout a five-o-clock shadow. Shock and betrayal! But by that point of course American game developers had demonstrated a variety of PC games proving RPG's don't necessarily have to contain emotional eunuchs, nihilistic megalomaniacs, magi-technology, or even impractical melee weapons. Now I can enjoy a variety of RPG series which welcome the ugly, brutish bearded guy, some even offering an assortment of scars and tattoos to choose from.
The reason I'm wondering about this is because I just popped in Lost Odyssey for Xbox (might as well be called Final Fantasy 360), and I noticed that the voices were particularly masculine for a Japanese RPG. Then I noticed that nothing else is, and my main character is wearing the steel equivalent of a belly shirt. So, can someone please tell me why they are so hooked on this character style over there? Considering manga and anime I guess it's obviously not just a video game thing, but does anyone know the reason or the origin? Does anyone have any good counterexamples to this trend? In short, wtf?
The reason I'm wondering about this is because I just popped in Lost Odyssey for Xbox (might as well be called Final Fantasy 360), and I noticed that the voices were particularly masculine for a Japanese RPG. Then I noticed that nothing else is, and my main character is wearing the steel equivalent of a belly shirt. So, can someone please tell me why they are so hooked on this character style over there? Considering manga and anime I guess it's obviously not just a video game thing, but does anyone know the reason or the origin? Does anyone have any good counterexamples to this trend? In short, wtf?